Not surprising at all...pretty much every bike is designed around the "average" rider which is somewhere in the 140-170 lbs range. The truth is, the 300lbs weight class is probably <1% of the clientele and building a bike to meet the needs of that rider would not be realistic because the ride would suck for lighter riders. Kona gave it a go (Hoss) but clearly it wasn't profitable because they discontinued it.

It sucks for the big rider, but I'm sure Trek is much more concerned with the components failing (since the weight limit is for the entire bike) than the frame failing.

FWIW, the trek warranty is only as good as you LBS. Mine has made it VERY clear that I would have NOTHING to worry about on a Trek despite being 300+. They have made it clear that they will take care of me. It isn't surprising though... I know Cannondale also has the 300 limit on their bikes.

Specialized is 300 as well.......Scott bikes are 250lbs even for their LT bikes. Cannondale's frame limit is 300lbs but their DYAD shocks only work for weights up to 250lbs at max psi which makes no sense.

I ahve seen Trek CF failures and Cannondales failures over the years (frames). These weren't 300+ pounders either.

I have personally snapped a seat tube in half(near the BB while climbing a hill on my very expensive custom made FS bike(not the current one I have). Stuff does break.I weighed about 270 at the time and had a maybe 2 seasons on it.

WHich is why you have to use your judgement and be on the safe side of components.
I broke 3 sets of Magic Motorcycle Cranks(remember those aluminum art pieces?), 2 pedal spindles(one was Titanium), a seatpost(forget the brand), many freehubs(I have had great luck with Hadley stuff), overheated brakes, warped rotors..This was all just riding along. No crash damages at all.

I am right about 300 and Trek has warrantied out 2 frames for me over the course of last 7 years. Both times it was from welds at seams on the down tube.

When I bought the first bike (Gary Fisher Tassajara) in 2002 I was informed that there was not a weight limit, but that was 10 years ago. That frame lasted 3 years, the wheelset and seatpost only lasted 2 years, so the comment that the weight limit might be more pertinent to components is probably accurate.

Latest frame swap was last summer and the topic did not even come up. They seemed to be a little pickier this time by making me prove I was the original owner of the frame, but the topic of my weight did not come up.

ya I'm not worried about warranty issues... although I was talking to the shop owner and he mentioned that now they have to cut off parts of the frame (want to say it was part of the logo and the drop outs)... seems people where selling the broken frame and it was getting warrantied again... and again...

but it does give another reason down the road to not accept it as warranty

I've been working in Trek shops for the last 12 years and this is actually the first time I have ever heard of it. It's never even been an issue that I know of, and as mentioned before your more likely to have a problem with an under built part than the frame.

For warranty we do have to remove the bottom bracket shell from the frame, we've had to do that for the last 6 years or so. And as a dealer it's a little irresponsible to give back a broken frame any way, if the customer turns around and sells a cracked frame and some one builds it up they could be hurt pretty easily. Dealers have always been required to destroy the killed frame, now we have to prove that we did.